LBS: Where the Cartographers Are…

One of the new groups elected at the ICA General Assembly last year is the Commission on Location Based Services (LBS). LBS became an active research field in the early 2000s. Since that time, there have been many changes in the field and LBS has increasingly entered the general public’s daily life. Since these changes open up a lot of basic and applied research questions to the LBS research community, the Commission has started an initiative to develop a cross-cutting research agenda for the field. This research agenda is one of many topics that will be discussed at the 13^th International Conference on Location Based Services (LBS 2016), in Vienna, Austria, this November.

Since LBS became an active research field in the early 2000s, there have been many changes in the field., such as the increasing demands in expanding LBS from outdoor to indoor, from location-aware to context-aware, and from navigation systems and mobile guides to more diverse applications (e.g. healthcare, transportation, gaming). The appearance of new interface technologies (e.g. digital glasses, smartwatches, augmented reality devices) and the increasing smartness of our environments and cities (e.g. with different kinds of sensors) also affect LBS. At the same time, we have seen more and more LBS entering the general public’s daily life, greatly influencing how people interact with each other and their behaviours in different environments. LBS also brings many opportunities (for example in city administration and urban planning, big data) and challenges (for example, privacy, legal and ethical issues, the ‘side effects’ of technology) to our planet and to society. These changes open up a lot of basic and applied research questions to the LBS research community.

To motivate LBS research further and stimulate collective efforts, the Commission has started an initiative to develop a cross-cutting research agenda for the field, aiming to identify key research questions and challenges that are essential for LBS development in the next five to ten years. Input is sought from all. For details of how to contribute to this exercise see the Commission website.

This research agenda is one of many topics to be discussed at the 13^th International Conference on Location Based Services (LBS 2016), which will take place in Vienna, Austria, from 14-16 November 2016. This meeting is organised by the Commission and TU Wien. Returning to the ‘birthplace’ of LBS conferences, it will build on the worldwide success of previous conferences in this series. It will offer a common ground for colleagues from various disciplines and fields of practice to interact and exchange knowledge, experience, plans and ideas about how LBS can and could be improved and how it will influence both science and society. For more information, please refer to the conference website: lbsconference.org.

Cartography can contribute to, and benefit from, development in LBS. An interdisciplinary approach to the field typifies both the LBS conferences and the work of the Commission. Regardless of your location, you are encouraged to join the work of the Commission.